Welcome

Welcome to the POZ/AIDSmeds Community Forums, a round-the-clock discussion area for people with HIV/AIDS, their friends/family/caregivers, and
others concerned about HIV/AIDS. Click on the links below to browse our various forums; scroll down for a glance at the most recent posts; or join in the
conversation yourself by registering on the left side of this page.

Privacy Warning: Please realize that these forums are open to all, and are fully searchable via Google and other search engines. If you are HIV positive
and disclose this in our forums, then it is almost the same thing as telling the whole world (or at least the World Wide Web). If this concerns you, then do not use a
username or avatar that are self-identifying in any way. We do not allow the deletion of anything you post in these forums, so think before you post.

The information shared in these forums, by moderators and members, is designed to complement, not replace, the relationship between an individual and his/her own
physician.

All members of these forums are, by default, not considered to be licensed medical providers. If otherwise, users must clearly define themselves as such.

Forums members must behave at all times with respect and honesty. Posting guidelines, including time-out and banning policies, have been established by the moderators
of these forums. Click here for “Am I Infected?” posting guidelines. Click here for posting guidelines pertaining to all other POZ/AIDSmeds community forums.

We ask all forums members to provide references for health/medical/scientific information they provide, when it is not a personal experience being discussed. Please
provide hyperlinks with full URLs or full citations of published works not available via the Internet. Additionally, all forums members must post information which are
true and correct to their knowledge.

Author
Topic: YEAST!!! (and other issues) (Read 3153 times)

Hey... sorry for the melodramatic Subject line... but this is driving me crazy, and I was wondering if anyone else had similar problems. I hate to be one of those people who only comes here with medical questions and doesn't contribute to the conversations, but this is all new to me, as I have only been diagnosed for 3 months, and not on any meds. OK here's my 'skin' story, and I am only sharing it hoping someone may have some advice, or even offer some sympathy, kind of a 'been there, done that, and it will go away eventually when you start meds' kind of thing. In the past year, I have been alternating between two hellish situations... I get a Candida yeast infection around my eyes, under my arms, at the corners of my mouth (angular chelitis) and/or on my face. This is ugly, itchy, red, embarassing and uncomfortable. I get them to go away with some Nystatin/Triamcinolone ointment over the course of several weeks. Then, I get a MRSA boil somewhere on my body... I take high-powered antibiotics for several weeks... MRSA goes away. Yeast has a field day, and I get red itchy areas all over, all over again... Repeat. On and on, a nasty cycle. So... there's that... my next question is about sleep. I almost never sleep through the night... usually I wake up, wide awake atleast two times through the night, sometimes more. It seems like anxiety, but this happened before I even knew I had HIV. Is this from the virus, or what? I don't have insurance, but am being seen at a clinic with a top-notch UNC-Chapel Hill HIV specialist who keeps assuring me that my health issues are not nescessarily HIV related since I have a good CD4 count and OK viral load. The thing that is bugging me is that it is hard to carry on and enjoy life without meds when I feel like a petri dish teaming with viruses, fungi, and bacteria, and my skin is a mess, and I can't get a good night sleep... Really, I guess I am just venting, and hoping for some sympathy. This has been by far the most trying year of my life... got the HIV from my ex-boyfriend (which I know is not any more his fault than mine-- he didn't know), broke up with boyfriend, get all these weird skin issues, find out i have HIV, uninsured and self employed with a grueling work load, blah blah blah, OK... there you have it. Thanks for reading... any advice of sympathy is most welcome. Hope you all are having a good weekend. ; ) PS I take probiotics and eat yogurt... which was all the advice my doc gave me, on combatting the yeast. When I go back in Feb for labs, I am going ask if there is siome kind of medicine to kill yeast, or if it is just the kind of thing that is everywhere, and it loves my body because I have a compromised immune system. Thanks again peeps. ; )

well, not that i am an expert or anything, but i would say, breathe go to a high quality natural food store and speak with the specialist there in the suppliments section and they can hopefully come up with something useful for you topically for the yeast. Both my children have sensitive skin and have laways had problems with yeast infections on their faces and necks. the sleep thing, well maybe you need to look into attending the mindfulness based stress reduction classes at duke alternative medicine center. it is based on a book by jon kabott zen call full catastrophe living. i always say if we don't slow down ourselves something will halt us ... also i had a number of nights of low sleep due to the stress of new diagnosis. tenderly care for yourself. hugs, zan

Thanks so much... I think I will take that to heart, about relaxing, and destressing. Kinda hard when you are covered in red splotches, but I will do my best, and I will look into the Duke thing, since it is only like 30 minutes away. I agree about the taking the time to slow down or our body will force us to. I kind of feel like the HIV is even something that has forced me to turn my life around and destress and treat my body better. Too bad it is going to snow tomorrow, or I would go to Whole Foods to ask about the yeast thing. I could understand if I had a cd4 count of like 150 or something, but the docs keep telling me I should be healthy... so maybe stress is playing a bigger part than I thought. Thanks again... and best wishes to you in your situation. We're both newbies, but you seem like a wise soul. : )

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Thanks, Ann! I discovered something that seems to be helping a lot all ready. I have the same problem as you... whenever I take antibiotics, I get athletes foot something awful! And now I get Candidiasis as well... Anyway... a couple of years ago, when I was still NEG, someone told me to soak my athletes foot in apple cider vinegar and water, about a 50/50 mixture. This knocked it out in less than a week, after several weeks of using OTC ointments... So... I thought, last night, why not try that with my yeast issues... and sure enough, my face is already returning to a normal color, and the chelitis is drying up too. I just dip a cotton ball in the mixture, and swab it over my face every couple of hours. I bet it would work under arms, and stuff as well. It is cheap, and seems to work A LOT faster the even prescription ointments. I am still going to talk to my doctor about it when I go back in February though. Thanks for responding, and I still welcome any other stories from people, and advice.

What antibiotic? My MRSA was responsive to Tetracycline and I've find that an easier antibiotic on the body. One option might be asking your doc if the antibiotics are absolutely necessary for the MRSA. I've read that some schools of thought feel incision and drainage might be enough.

Hey... I was on Bactrim for two weeks, twice, about 6 months apart. Have been off now for two weeks, and am hoping I won't have to deal with that nasty sh*t again. It was awful... Draining it made the biggest difference, I never saw it react much to the antibiotics... it was like once I got it to open up, it just dried up and went away, thank God... and whoa, when it drains, dude, it is so like science fiction. Just nasty!

Hey tucker, I get yeast in the corner of my mouth, and I find that using Nystatin, which is one of the older meds (which I've used countless times to succeessfully counteract thrush), just letting it run over the corners of my mouth, followed by using mitronidazole works wonders in getting rid of it. My aunt told me about the metronidazole, because she gets thrush in the corners of her mouth as well.

Edited to add: the metronidazole is a cream available over-the-counter as a treatment for athlete's foot.

« Last Edit: January 19, 2008, 03:27:53 PM by Bettytacy »

Logged

I've never killed anyone, but I frequently get satisfaction reading the obituary notices.-Clarence Darrow

well as long as we are going old school, the best and quickest remedy for yeast (according to many ) especially when one has thrush in the mouth, is gentian violet...oral version. that is as long as you don't mind your tongue being purple for days,

Tucker have patience. It took me a year and a half to get rid of a yeast infection on my legs near my groin. Go to a dermatologist. Mine gave me ointments to take in addition to oral medication. It took me a while to get rid of it but it is gone. Trust me, its worth a trip to the specialist.

A probiotic diet would do good to help the good bacteria crowd out the bad bacteria. Also, lay off the sugar and refined carbs for a while and see if that makes a difference. Eat fresh fruits and veggies as well as lean meats and if you smoke, quit. I've had the occasional angular chelitis in the corner of the mouth which is fungal related. It usually appeared after a stressful week or having a cold. Although, now that I'm on HAART and the CD4s are near 600 I never see that stuff anymore.

thanks for all the advice... I don't see my ID doc until February, so I may have to deal with this until then... I have been taking PB-8 probiotic religiously, and I eat yogurt... and take garlic, and none of that seemed to make a big difference. The vinegar, and some Nystatin seems to help a lot, but my face still looks awful (the corner of my mouth is all red, crusty, and cracked) and I did a stupid thing this week... I used a face scrub in the shower, and I think that spread the yeast all over my face and scrubbed it deep into my pores, so now my face is all bumpy and red too--this sucks) What I don't get is why when I bring all this up to the doctors, they tell me it is not really related to HIV, since I have a good cd4 count. It might be years before they put me on meds, and I can't live like this for years... all these recurrent skin problems are embarassing, and make it difficult to feel like 'life goes on' after hearing an HIV diagnosis. I know the yeast might be from taking sucha strong antibiotic for a long period of time... so I guess I just hope that now that I am off of Bactrim, I can knock this yeast thing out, and then I will be fine for a while. I have only been leaving my house to go to work, or the grocery store, for months because of this stuff on my face. Ugh... just venting. Thanks again for all the info... it was just the kind of stuff I was looking for.

Tucker, I get those same cracks in the corners of my mouth that are yeast, and even if I look on the inside "crack" in the corners, I see that old white familiar stuff. I reiterate about letting the Nystatin run over it and putting metronidazole cream on it. It works. Of course, treatment is always a personal choice.

Logged

I've never killed anyone, but I frequently get satisfaction reading the obituary notices.-Clarence Darrow

Betty-- I AM using nystatin! I had it for another area on my body, and it is helping, I just didn't start it soon enough. You know chelitis is one of those things that, once it shows up, even with a prescription, it can take a while to clear up. Thank you for caring enough to share your experience with me, I truly appreciate it. It really is looking a lot better, just wishing the scabs would go away now.